


After Death

by twilighteve



Series: Paranatural Hogwarts AU [5]
Category: Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, Thestrals, pnat hogwarts au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-06 16:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5423615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilighteve/pseuds/twilighteve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Max could see the skeletal horses. Others couldn’t. Hogwarts AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	After Death

Max felt nervous about this.

Which wasn’t a surprise, really. As a muggleborn wizard, many things in the wizarding world surprised and awed him, and just as many had made him feel wary and even scared. This one… it didn’t exactly scare him, per se, but it made him feel nervous.

There was just something decidedly wrong about the skeletal figure of the winged horse that looked like a Pegasus that ate too much rotten apples – _great going, Max, now you’ve done it. You can’t ever eat Apple Thang again_ – to the point that it was malnourished. Max bit his lip. Why was it that none of his classmates seemed to be able to see it?

Well, if anyone could answer his questions, it should be Isabel. The Guerra family was a longstanding pureblood wizard family, so she should know more than anyone. He tugged at the girls’ robe. “Hey, Isabel.”

“What, Max?” Isabel asked, a little irritated. Like everyone else in the class, she was on edge because their Care for Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Walker, had decided to have class outdoors – in the Forbidden Forest. While she had visited the forest a lot, the fact that a teacher brought them here meant the creature lived in the deep depth of the forest, and there was no telling how dangerous it could be.

Max pointed at the creature, standing between two tall trees by their left, its dark color blending with the shadows to the point that it was nearly invisible. “What’s that creature over there?”

Isabel turned to the direction he pointed, but she merely frowned. “What creature?”

“It’s there, right between those two tall trees.”

“I see nothing, Max.”

“What – “ Max gulped. Okay, now this was weird. “It’s dark and the creature’s skin is dark too so maybe you just missed it. It’s right there. It looks like a skeletal horse with bat wings. Doesn’t have fur, just skin. You can see its bones beneath the skin, they’re so prominent – please tell me you see it.”

Unfortunately, Isabel just stared at him as though _he_ was the weird creature he was talking about. “Whoa, Max. Are you sure you’re okay? Cause that sounds so disturbing.”

Max blinked and frowned. “Are you saying that you can’t see it?”

Isabel rolled her eyes. “Well duh, that’s what I’ve been telling you.”

“But that thing pulls the carriage to school! The one that we always use after we get off the train?”

“What are you saying, Max? Those carriages pull themselves.”

Max stared. This was beyond weird. He had never asked about the skeletal winged horses that pull the school carriages before. It had never seemed important, and the others never seemed to be disturbed, so he just assumed that they were harmless. But clearly he was wrong. No one were disturbed because they couldn’t see the horses. And he had never really paid attention to them either, since they never really bothered him.

She glanced at something behind Max and called, “Hey, Johnny and the gang! I have a question.” She pointed at the same space Max had been pointing at before. “You see something there?”

Max turned just as Johnny shook his head. “Unless you mean those trees, I see nothin’.”

Ollie nodded in agreement. “I don’t see anything either.”

Stephen’s eyes, however, gleamed. Which went pretty badly with the scar across his face. “Maybe there’s something _invisible_ there. Imagine.”

Max frowned and turned back at the horse-thing. It was staring at him with its white eyes. It disturbed him that the creature apparently paid attention to him, but it disturbed him even more that no one else could see it.

Before he could say anything, Professor Walker arrived at the dark clearing they were standing in. His footsteps sounded loudly in the woods despite the thick grass underneath their feet. He carried something on his shoulder – _Merlin, is that a deer carcass?!_

“Settle down, kids,” the man with funny mustache told them as he dumped the deer carcass to the ground. “Some people might not like the creature we’ll be learnin’ about today, but I’ll tell you right off the bat that these ones are nice. They won’t hurt you. They’re intelligent, and Hogwarts use their help all the time.”

“Where’s the creature?” Johnny asked immediately.

“Just wait a bit,” Professor Walker simply grinned. So they did.

Max tensed when he saw the creature step forward to the carcass. It began tearing into the meat, clearly enjoying the free meal, and Max felt his face draining of all color. So the horse creature ate meat. This was looking more and more like a nightmare material. He tensed a bit more when he saw more horse-things walking out from beyond the treelines. They all came to the carcass, happily biting and munching. Some of Max’s classmates began to murmur, point, and scream at the carcass.

“Something’s eating it!” a girl squeaked.

“Well the deer’s not eatin’ itself, fella!” Professor Walker grinned at her. “Don’t you worry, they’re not going to hurt you. They’re softies, I tell you.”

“Softies eat meat?” by his side, Violet muttered, clearly unconvinced.

“These creatures are called Thestrals,” Professor Walker explained, ignoring the mutterings the class still gave. “They’re really smart and trainable, and trained ones can understand people’s words when spoken to. They’re gentle creatures that will never hut a soul. Loyal, too! They can tell between a friend and an enemy. Unfortunately, they look kinda scary, so people usually fear them.”

“More like invisible,” a boy commented.

“Ha! Invisible, you say?” the teacher laughed. “There is a condition for someone to see them, boy! Now, if anyone here can see them, raise your hand.”

It took Max a moment to realize what the question was, and when he did he reluctantly raised his hand. He glanced around. A Gryffindor kid had his hand raised. Upon another glance, he realized that Lisa was raising her hand as well. The creepy, all-knowing smile that usually adorned her face was nowhere to be seen. Aside from the three of them, there was no one else that raised their hand.

“Not so invisible after all,” Professor Walker remarked, eyes piercing into the Gryffindor boy’s, Lisa’s, and Max’s. Max could feel Isabel’s gaze boring into his head.

“You really can see them?” Isabel asked, tone hushed.

“Yeah,” Max answered, voice barely above whisper.

“Why can they see ‘em when we can’t?” Johnny demanded. “That’s kinda unfair, don’tcha think?”

Professor Walker held up a finger. “You can only see Thestrals,” he began, “after you’ve seen and accepted death.”

_A car, driving fast. Laughter and mocks, jabbing insults at one another. Frozen smiles. Then, a crash, and the laughter turned into screams. Pieces of glass flew by. Hands outstretched, trying to protect but the effort was fruitless. A final blow. Eyes unseeing, blood trickling, Zoey crying, Dad screaming –_

A hand fell on his shoulder, and Max jumped. He turned to meet Isabel’s eyes. She sent him a look that asked so many questions in so little time, but Max couldn’t answer her, because he couldn’t find his voice. When he finally did, his words failed him.

So, instead, he took a deep breath and gave a soft, “Oh.”

**Author's Note:**

> My take on the pnat hogwarts AU. The AU was created by apocalypse-sweet and tree-girl (tumblr), I just like it so much I have to write a story about it. This one deals with my own headcanon of the AU, so that I can get a taste of it.
> 
> Well, hope you enjoyed it. Comments are totally welcome, and con-crit as well.


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